Braiding Hairs
by FloatingAnchors
Summary: The Fire Nation heat is making Katara restless, especially with her hair. But she's too lazy to braid it herself; so she asks him to do it.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters.**

Loosely inspired by my current obsession with braiding and the fact that one of my guy friends can braid better than I can.

* * *

Katara groaned as she threw the blanket off of her sweaty body, her previously shut eyes flickering open in the Fire Nation heat.

"Why does the Fire Nation have to be _so _hot all the time?" she grumbled to herself, cheeks painted a rosy pink, thanks to the temperature.

"It isn't even late into the morning yet!" she sat up and attempted to cool herself with waterbending, but found herself too lazy this particular hot morning to do so.

The waterbender frowned as her thick course of hair started to maker her skin itch.

"Since when did my hair become this frustratingly itchy?" she continued to complain out loud. "And why'd it have to be so long?"

She flopped back on her cot unceremoniously before an idea sprouted in her mind. What better way to find ways to cool off than to ask a citizen of the wretched nation?

"Zuko!" she called out, her voice carried by the dry wind out of her tent.

Katara sighed and rolled around restlessly, trying to take her mind off the heat as she waited for the firebender to arrive.

"Kat?" said firebender poked his head into her tent and she groaned at his non-sweaty skin.

"How do you manage to stay un-sweaty in this stifling heat?!"

Zuko chuckled as he entered the small tent and sat at her feet. "I'm a firebender born and raised in the Fire Nation. I can control my body heat,"

At this, Katara grumbled, and she wondered to herself how many times she'd done that this morning.

"And besides, you get used to it after a while." the ex-Fire Prince shrugged.

"But it's _so_ hot!" Katara whined as if she didn't hear anything he'd just said.

Zuko laughed at her misery. "Stop moving around so much and lay still for a while. Movement just causes you to feel more suffocated and warm."

The waterbender huffed before laying still just as he'd instructed.

After a whole minute of comfortable silence, she sat up. "It's still hot, Zuko."

The boy sitting opposite her sighed. "What do you want me to do? It's not like I can change the weather."

Upon seeing Katara's playful smirk, he frowned. "You know I can't change the weather, Kat."

Katara scowled. "Yeah, no kidding."

He grinned boyishly. "Why don't you play around in the river? The water should cheer you up and cool you down."

Upon seeing that his suggestion was met with a poker face, Zuko flushed. "What?"

"_Play_ _around? _What are we, Zuko, eight?"

His cheeks reddened considerably and he looked away from her scrutinizing stare. "You know what I mean."

Katara sighed. "I just wish it weren't so hot around here. To add to it, my hair is really making my skin itch. Do you know how annoying that is?"

Zuko filled his cheeks with air as Katara continued to rant about her hair and the heat. "I could, uh, braid it for you."

"What?"

"I could braid your hair if you want." Zuko offered.

Katara stared at him like he had just offended her and he started to babble. "I mean, obviously you could do that by yourself, but I figured you're too lazy in this heat because otherwise you would've done so already, but-"

"Okay."

"What?"

"I said okay."

"Okay to _what_?"

Katara slapped her palm to her forehead. "Are you going to braid my hair or not?"

"Oh!" Zuko's face lit up and he scrambled to sit behind her, fingers immediately combing through the thick, tangled curls.

"How do you even know how to braid?" Katara asked, feeling as awkward about the topic as her word phrasing.

"Azula." Zuko stated plainly, as if his sister's name alone was an explanation.

"What has braiding hair have to do with your psychopath of a sister?" she asked as he weaved strands of her hair together.

Zuko smiled. "When I was younger, I would watch my mother braid my sister's hair. Azula used to love the feel of the strands woven together. When my mom wasn't around and she was in the mood to have her hair braided, she would bound over to me and ask me to braid her hair."

"Aww, weren't you a sweet big brother?" Katara cooed, earning herself a playful shove from behind.

She laughed in response, effectively forgetting the heat.

"But thinking about it now, Azula more like _forced _me to braid her hair." Zuko spoke thoughtfully, fingers stilling for a moment, and Katara giggled.

"You sound like you're reliving old memories, Sparky."

The firebender scowled. "Don't call me that."

"Why not, _Sparky_?" she smirked playfully.

"Do I look sparkly to you?"

Katara laughed. "Who said anything about being sparkly?"

"It's implied." Zuko mumbled as his cheeks reddened.

"Sure it is."

"Just drop it, _Sweetness_."

"Hey!"

"You asked for it."

Katara huffed. "Fine. I'll drop it if you drop it."

Zuko shrugged as he finished off the braid and tied the end with a ribbon. "Fair enough."

Before either of them could continue their banter, the sound of lively chatter from outside interrupted the silent atmosphere.

"Katara! Zuko! We're back!" Aang's cheerful voice floated in the air.

The two made their way out of the tent, only to be greeted with Sokka's suspicious stare.

"And what were you two doing inside that tent _together_?" the warrior asked, blue eyes narrowed into slits.

"Nothing!"

"Braiding hair!"

The former enemies looked at one another before smiling.

"_Sure_." Sokka muttered. "Like anyone would believe that."


End file.
